I don’t know how your Twitter experience is going. Mine is pretty unsatisfactory; I can’t tell if no one is posting or if I can’t see their posts. I expect it’ll get better at some point. I am posting more over at BlueSky at the moment but I don’t know if I’ll end up there either. I still have Mastadon other profiles I don’t really use. We’ll see how the wind blows. You can still always find me here.
CMLL
CMLL (MON) 07/03/2023 Arena Puebla [El Sol de Puebla, Porra Fresa]
1) Amnesia, Astro, Xelhua b El Malayo, Fénix SO, Rey Apocalipsis
debut of Xelhua
2) Black Tiger, Perverso, Prayer DQ Apocalipsis, Cholo, Disturbio
Los Indestructibles excessive violence DQ
3) Capitán Suicida, Rey Samuray, Volcano b Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr.
4) Atlantis DCOR Satánico
brawl outside for the countout
5) Pegasso, Stigma, Templario, Último Guerrero DQ Hechicero, Magia Blanca, Rugido, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles] 
Pegasso, working rudo for the night, DQed for unmasking Magia Blanca.
CMLL’s advertised a month full of important shows here. The Puebla exclusive title belt should debut soon, the main event may set up a Pegasso/Magia Blanca title match, and even the second match feud may be important.
Porra Fresa oddly didn’t stream any matches this week. In a post, he mentioned El Novato’s debut in Arena Mexico and said another Puebla wrestler would be debuting there soon. He spoke to these as changes by the “new CMLL administration.” That’s probably nothing; CMLL moves on geological time so ‘new’ might still be the Lutteroth-led group coming aboard four years ago. There sure are changes with whomever is running it.
CMLL (TUE) 07/04/2023 Arena México [CMLL, Kaiser Sports, thecubsfan]
1) Mercurio, Minos, Pierrothito b Angelito, Kaligua, Pequeño Magía 
9:42
2) Leono b Sangre Imperial [lightning] 
7:52
3) El Coyote, Okumura, Pólvora b Adrenalina, Explosivo, Fantástico
12:52. Rudos took 1/3.
4) Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr. b Astral, Espíritu Negro, Rey Cometa
11:19. Straight falls by the rudos, last via Akuma foul on Cometa
5) Blue Panther, Octagón, Panterita del Ring b Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Virus
12:37
6) Místico, Soberano Jr., Templario b Niebla Roja, Titán, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
14:28. Team Mistico took 2/3.
This show was no different than usual in quality. All the matches were OK at best, and the old guys match was worse than that. There were a lot of big names in the main event doing a by the numbers match. (There was even an unusually big and loud crowd for a Tuesday show, which didn’t affect the working standards at all.) The early return is there’s no reason to pay for this subscription plan unless you absolutely must see everything in a promotion where 80% of the matches are completely missable.
And yet, that first impression doesn’t matter at all. If CMLL announces on Informa that they’re adding Friday shows, then it’s a great deal. If CMLL announces they’re doing anything else with Friday shows, then it’s a terrible deal. That’s the sum of it. The Friday shows are not listed for sale on TicketmasterLive at this point, and they normally would have the whole month by today. The most optimistic way of looking at it is the Friday shows were always meant to be part of the package starting in July, but CMLL decided to wait a week to fully announce that so people would’ve be confused on the 06/30 show would air.
Even the Leono/Sangre Imperial feud thing seemed dropped here. They just had a normal lightning match, Imperial won, they’re all moving on.
Subscriber counts are kept deliberately obscure to the public by YouTube, so we have no idea exactly how many people CMLL has signed up. One stand in might be to see how many likes each video got, since that is public. As of Wednesday midday:
734: the last free Tuesday stream
49: the 07/01 Arena Coliseo show
10: the 07/04 Arena Mexico show
That’s not very scientific, but it’s a starting point. I have to believe CMLL knows Tuesdays alone will not be enough and we’re getting another announcement.
CMLL (TUE) 07/04/2023 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Mas Lucha, thecubsfan]
1) Black Boy, Thunder Boy, Yaky Boy b Astro Oriental, Avispón Negro Jr., Bello Antuan
2) Atenea, Náutica, Nexy b Alondra, Dulce Kitty, Sexy Sol [Relevos Increíbles] 
3) Átomo, Chamuel, Mije b Micro Gemelo Diablo I, Micro Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Sagrado
4) Ángel Negro, Brillante Jr., Rey Bucanero b Arlequín, Bestia Negra, Cris Skin
5) Dark Silueta, Stephanie Vaquer, Zeuxis b La Jarochita, Lluvia, Valkiria
6) Dark Panther & Máscara Dorada 2.0 b Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero
The main event was said to be pretty good.
The 07/01 Arena Coliseo show went up for CMLL’s YouTube subscribers on Monday night. They mentioned it on Facebook a couple of hours before (and not on YouTube, maybe due to the issues there.) The show was alright, something fun to see but not something you’re missing if you’ve decided not to describe. There’s a different feel to Arena Coliseo shows, but none of the match were great. The best stuff was the minis opener and match four, with Difunto & Zandokan doing a lot comedy. The LIJ/LI was worked like just another match, and with the NJPW guys not working especially hard. Mascara Dorada 2.0 had a noticable worse match this time out in the main than he did on Friday.
As hot as a CMLL at their home arenas, it doesn’t seem to extend beyond that so far. A CMLL focused show in Arena Lopez Mateos on Saturday drew poorly. It was a new local promoter running it, which may have hurt promotion.
This Saturday’s show:
CMLL (SAT) 07/08/2023 Arena Coliseo
1) Fantasy vs Pequeño Olímpico [lightning]
2) Oro Jr., Robin, Valiente Jr. vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Raider
3) Dark Panther, El Audaz, Magia Blanca vs El Felino Jr., Hijo del Villano III, Misterioso Jr.
4) Difunto, Furia Roja, Zandokan Jr. vs Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Sagrado
5) Máscara Dorada 2.0, Soberano Jr., Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Mephisto, Stuka Jr.
6) Místico vs Volador Jr.
They showed the set up the latest Mistico/Voaldor match but apparently won’t show the match itself. Difunto & Zandokan are quickly becoming the guys CMLL was hoping the Gemelo Diablos would be.
AAA
AAA will have a press conference at the Showcenter Complex tonight at 5:30 pm. Back in March, AAA announced they’d start running shows at this venue in May and would run five shows this year. It’s July, they have yet to run a show, but are apparently going to announce some dates at this press event. Alberto el Patron will be in attendance, which tells you this is a Roberto Figeuroa project.
TripleMania Tijuana will air additionally in HBO Max. It’s still airing everywhere else it normally airing, and this is really just a duplication of what airs on Space but for people who are only subscribing to the streaming service. A press release has this as all Triplemanias, so it’ll probably be true for Mexico City as well. This is Space’s parent WBD changing how they’re distributing their premium content rather than anything AAA is doing, though it’s a good sign that WBD considers TripleManias important enough to distribute this way.
A list of upcoming WBD specials additionally lists Verano de Escandalo as airing live on Space on July 21st. No time is listed, but it’s a Friday broadcast instead of the usual Saturday show. Space aired Verano de Escandalo last year; that’s how we saw the horrifically bad Hijo del Tirantes/Lady Shani match. Last year Verano de Escandalo didn’t airing on FITE or live anywhere besides Space, and I assume the same here. Even HBO Max seems like only a TripleMania show. I’d think about passing on CMLL to stream it but there’s nothing notable on that lineup. I’ll have it on the drive later that night if my stream of Space goes OK.
Drago told el Blog de Lucha that he left AAA because he no longer felt “indispensable” to them, and realized AAA wasn’t essential to him either. He doesn’t rule out returning to the character someday. In a Mas Lucha interview, Drago said he may actually work a few more matches with that name but he’s transitioning to the name he owns. It’s really a usual Mexican wrestling story: they didn’t have any plans for him at an important level, and it’s a better deal for him to go on his own than and not have to give AAA a cut. The question that’s going to linger with him forever is if he should’ve made this decision back when the Lucha Brothers did and trying to cash in on his US popularity then, or if he was better being a guy who stayed with AAA. I don’t have a great answer.
IWRG
IWRG (THU) 07/06/2023 Arena Naucalpan
1) Legado & Rossel vs Adrenalina & Thunder Storm
2) Chaflan & Charifas vs Centvrión & Rey Halcón
3) Fussion vs Águila Roja
4) Dr. Cerebro vs Cerebro Negro
5) Hijo de Canis Lupus, Noisy Boy, Spider Fly vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, León Dorado, Mr. Leo
Pirata versus MexaBoys continued.
The semi-main is a singles match with a lot of IWRG history, though it’s likely just a platform for the sons to run-in today. This will be the first time those who have had a singles match in a decade (a hair match in December 2012.)
Other News
Mas Lucha addressed the Ruleta Suicida situation on their Monday show. Dante’s story is he was given no formal agreement to put up his mask. Mas Lucha insists there was such an agreement, and that everyone who agreed to do the tournament 100% knew they could end up losing their mask,. They called seven of the eight people involved were professional. (Mas Lucha specifically didn’t mention Dante’s name in the entire explaination.) They heavily praised Camaleon for the professionalism he showed in losing his mask on the day. They did allude to working with the commission on how to handle the situation. The day of the show, Mas Lucha wanted to added Aerostar, Drago, and Hijo del Tirantes to the apuesta match, but were told it could only be people who were in the tournament originally. The entire show
AEW starts on Televisa’s ViX streaming service tonight. They issued a press release: ViX is getting everything AEW for Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean markets. They get all three shows, they get the Battle of the Belts, they get the back catalog VOD (including PPVs a month after they air.) Now, the only question anyone in Mexico ever asks about this is “can we get the English commentary” and I still don’t know about that. There’s also no mention about about the future of AEW on FITE in this region, but that’s probably going away (and this deal is why Collision was never added to that service.) I had some serious doubts when AEW dropped off of Space to get a better deal, but this looks like a better deal for them. I think it’ll be a better deal for AEW fans but that’ll remain to be seen.
Big Lucha teased the return of the Big Lucha World shows.
An luchador for Torreon was arrested in Mazatlan was arrested for beating his significant other. The man’s name is given as “Wilfredo”, and there’s no mention of his luchador name. The woman is in very serious condition from head trauma and was found to be pregnant.
Box y Lucha #3558 has a dizzying amount of things on the cover as often. One of those things is ex-CMLL wrestler Chicago Express being honored in the US. There’s no actual article or mention of Chicago Express in the magazine.
Segunda Caida reviews more Panamanian lucha libre.
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any thoughts about if Drago leaving will involve Aerostar?
seemed to me like they were sort of a package deal if a promotion booked “a couple of AAA guys”
Aerostar, like Drago, is kinda just freelancing with AAA while mostly doing his own schedule. I don’t think he’ll make the complete break, it’s not in his personality and he’s still getting used on TV occasionally with the Parka Negra feud. He’ll be there as long as AAA still wants to use him.